


Hell on Wheels

by CinnamonZor



Series: ShuHaru Week 2020 - Tales of the Fluffy-Hair Pair [1]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Akira and Futaba are Basically Siblings, Comedy, Especially Akira, F/M, Haru Is Terrifying and We All Love Her For It, Haru being Haru, In Which Haru Traumatized the Phantom Thieves, Makoto is Team Mom, More Than They Already Were Anyway, Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers, Rewritten Canon Event, Road Trips, Scramble Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:07:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24592024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CinnamonZor/pseuds/CinnamonZor
Summary: Day 1 - RoadtripRetelling of my personal favorite event in Scramble, but with added dialogue and a healthy helping of Akira being head-over-heels for Haru.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Okumura Haru, Kurusu Akira/Okumura Haru, Okumura Haru/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: ShuHaru Week 2020 - Tales of the Fluffy-Hair Pair [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1777660
Comments: 3
Kudos: 45
Collections: Shuharu Week 2k19 + 2k20





	Hell on Wheels

"Hey, Haru," Makoto muttered from the passenger seat. "Are you sure you can do this?"

"Oh. Makoto's facial expression changed drastically," chimed the youthful, monotone voice of the Thieves' A.I. companion.

"She'll do great," Akira chimed in from the common area of the van, pointedly ignoring Sophia's innocently blunt comment. "I have full confidence in her spectacular abilities."

"You're just saying that because you're a whipped little sap," Futaba snorted, sticking her tongue out at him across the table.

"Hey, at least I'm trying to help." Akira grabbed a travel pamphlet and flung it at his pseudo-sister's head in retaliation. "And you know damn well I'm not just saying that. Maybe if you stopped being a total goblin for five minutes, you'd have faith in her too."

"Ow! Dammit, Akira!"

"Guys, _please_ stop bickering," Makoto groaned, peeking back at the group of kouhai behind her. "I'm not well enough to put up with any tomfoolery right now."

"Did you just unironically say 'tomfoolery?'" Ann snickered.

"Making fun of me is also not helpful," the brunette grumbled, slouching a bit in her seat. Her head turned slightly towards Haru, who had yet to say anything since getting behind the wheel. The fluffy-haired woman simply sat in the driver's seat, her head turned slightly down and her eyes shut.

"Don't be so nervous," Ryuji reassured her cheerily, noticing her stagnation from the back of the van. "Just take it easy an' you'll get it just fine!"

A second or two passed before she finally spoke.

"…Yes."

"Haru…?" Ann turned her head back a bit to get a glimpse, driven by her usual concern for her friend. But across the table, there were two other passengers that reacted to the sound of Haru's voice. For an entirely different reason.

The two fuzzy ears atop Morgana's head perked up, detecting the slightest trace of something familiar in Haru's tone. It was subtle; a hint he'd only detected thanks to his feline form's sharp sense of hearing. The tone he heard wasn't the nervousness he'd expected from her behavior till that point. In fact, it sounded as if the anxiety of her sudden driving allocation had nearly died down already. And in its place was an entirely different, all too familiar cadence. A tone that carried Haru's resolve. Her assertiveness. The defiant thief that lurked beneath her fluffy exterior.

This was the voice of Noir.

"Uhhh…" Morgana shrunk down nervously where he lay with evident unease. "Guys…?" It was then that he peeked over at Akira, getting a good look at his partner's face thanks to his nerve-heightened focus, noting a flash of intrigue in the raven-haired boy's eyes.

"Heh… hehehehehe!" Slowly, Haru looked up with an excited gleam in her eyes. "Leave it to me, everyone," she giggled in an unsettling, almost maniacal tone. "I will definitely do the best I can!"

"Uh, does she seem a bit different to you guys?" Futaba questioned as she glanced back at her friend. Across from her, Akira's mouth grew into a restrained grin as he shuddered a tad at the sound of Haru's determined voice.

"She most certainly does," he replied through his smile as he fiddled with his hair a bit. "Drive safe, sweetie."

Akira's behavior most _certainly_ caught the others' attention. It was rare to see him truly flustered like this. The only real instance any of them had ever gotten the chance to see it was when Haru went into her more… menacing mode in the Metaverse. And if the aftermath of those occasions had anything to convey, it most certainly put the rest of the Thieves on edge.

"Oh, we're effed," Ryuji sputtered, "aren't we?"

"Um, I didn't tell you this earlier," Makoto spoke up nervously, her eyebrows creasing in concern, "but, Haru, when you're holding the handle…"

"Let's go!" Haru declared confidently, firmly gripping the wheel. "Onward to Kyoto!"

And so began the screams of terror.

\------------------------------------------

To say Zenkichi was surprised at the state of the Thieves when they arrived was a tad of an understatement. Aside from Haru, every single one of them had stumbled into the meeting place in a state of either nausea, disorientation, or sheer mortal terror.

Ryuji, Ann, Makoto, and Morgana lay collapsed over the bar counter, Ann trying to get up and failing with the others not even bothering to move. Yusuke had to hold onto the stairway railing to keep from toppling over as his already pale face was full-on blanched. Futaba had curled up into an anxious ball on the nearest seat with a hollow expression, struggling to control her breathing.

And finally, draped over Haru's shoulder for support was an utterly dazed Akira, staring blankly ahead with a mixture of pink and green dusting his cheeks.

"Okumura," Zenkichi asked, gazing over the sea of borderline re-traumatized teenagers, "what on Earth happened to everyone?"

"I think I drove like a normal person?" Haru replied, utterly perplexed by the state of her friends.

"Why do I keep getting traumatized by cars…?" Futaba shuddered as those still standing turned towards her at the faint sound of her voice. "Am I stuck following some ironic theme forever…? Is Sojiro's just gonna blow him up one of these days…?"

"…Haru," Akira muttered from his perch on her shoulder, "you know I love and support you no matter what. And as impressive as it is that you somehow completed an eight-hour drive in half the time," he paused a bit as his vision temporarily blurred, "you are no longer allowed to drive anything. Ever again. Unless it's a life-or-death situation."

"Aw…" she sighed. "And here I thought I did so well…"

"I mean, it technically wasn't BAD ba-"

 _"Yes it was!"_ groaned everyone else in unison.

It was at that moment when Akira slipped off of Haru and landed face-first on the floor.

"Joker is down," Sophia called up from his phone as Haru and Zenkichi worriedly peered down at his limp form.

"So, Hasegawa," he muttered against the linoleum, "about that research…"


End file.
